Ghost Rider rides…once again.
Last year at this time, the Horror News Network staff singled out the latest four-color incarnation of Marvel’s Ghost Rider (from the writer-artist team of Benjamin Percy and Cory Smith) as the Best Ongoing Series of the Year–and the same high quality of storytelling continued on the book this year.
The Ghost Rider series in 2023 was again scripted by Percy, with Smith and Brent Peeples handling the pencils–and Peeples and Oren Junior inking the comic. The eye-catching artwork was complemented by the colors of Bryan Valenza, with editor Darren Shan keeping the series humming along.
As fans know, the Ghost Rider character has gone through several transformations through the years (some more successful than others), but this current series seems to harken back to the original book and even kicks up the horror action more than a notch.
That original version–which introduced Johnny Blaze as the supernatural, skeletal rider–was created by writers Roy Thomas and Gary Friedrich and artist Mike Ploog–and debuted in Marvel Spotlight way back in 1972.
As the tagline for this new series explains: “When innocent blood is spilled, a Spirit of Vengeance is born–and Johnny Blaze finds himself transformed.” ‘Nuff said.
Congratulations again go out to Marvel and the creative team of Ghost Rider for being named Best Ongoing Horror Comic Series of 2023.
